The Harmony of Maple World
by The Dark Crystal Dragon
Summary: Lotus manages to get her body back from Gelimer, but with a horrifying secret. In the midst of her fear and sorrow, Luminous, the hero's, and some new friends step in to save her, but can Luminous build a bond strong enough to out weigh Lotus's distrust, or will everything fall apart between them?
1. Chapter 1: A Lonely Spirit

**_**Lotus and Orchid where originally supposed to twin sisters, Nexon changed that later on though, this story is based on the original idea of them both being female. I do not own Maplestory or any of the characters in the game itself, all original property belongs to Nexon. Only my own OC characters belong to me.**_**

__Chapter 1: Lonliness__

Lotus sat silently on top of the Goddess statue at the Temple of Time, watching Pink Bean scurry about bellow her, though her thoughts were in another place. Lotus had overheard from travelers what Gelimer had done to Orchid, but she was at a loss on how to feel about it. It scared her, it made her angry too, but there was one thing Lotus knew for certain; it was the first time in hundreds of years, that anything had made her feel powerless and pathetic.

__"How could I have let this happen? The one time Orca really needed me and I'm stuck in this state..."__Lotus sighed and shook her head, she was so mixed up inside. It felt like she was stuck in an endless whirlpool of anger, fear, sadness, and regret, it was as if there wasn't a thing for her to feel happiness over anymore.

She knew that Orchid wasn't dead, but something still made her hateful thinking about it. Lotus clenched her fist and scowled, __"As if that crazy old coot could actually kill Orca"__Lotus trembled thinking about how Gelimer, using her own body, had attack and left Orchid for dead, __"For him to use such a cheap trick to gain an advantage over Orchid..."__Lotus was deeply upset by this, but there was nothing she could do about it now, that was all over long since nights passed.

__"What am I going to do now? Should I just swallow my fear and look for Orca, or..."__Her though process was disrupted when a maple leaf blew right through her, she looked down at her hands, remembering she was bodiless, and that Orchid probably couldn't see her, or if Orchid would even want to after all this. __"Maybe I'm like Von's wife now...? He can't see his wife any longer even though she's always with him... Maybe Orca too..."__She signed, hanging her head, on the brink of tears. __"What did I ever do to deserve this..."__Lotus quietly got up and stared out into the sunset, watching the wind blow leaves around her.

__"The only one who seems to be able to see me is that damn eyesore Phantom"__Lotus clenched her fist thinking about him, he was the reason she was in this state to begin with, __" He probably didn't love Aria anyway. I mean, he hits on anything that moves... who would ever believe he __**__**actually**__****__**_**_l_**___oved her?"__

Lotus shook her head and started to walk, __"I think about the past far to much I guess..."__Lotus reached the opening of the old Temple and started searching through her cloak pockets, pulling out a Teleportation rock, setting her destination for the forest near Elluel. It was always peaceful there, the beauty of the forest was enough to wash away any negative emotions, making it easy to put her troubled mind and heart at ease.

Lotus wasn't especially worried about Mercedes either, for from what she could tell, the elven queen couldn't see her. This allowed Lotus to relax even more, knowing that she was safe and could take it easy on the outskirts of the elven kingdom. Passing along the usual route up towards the waterfall cave where she had been staying, Lotus noticed something sticking up out of a muddy patch of ground, she bent down and slowly pulled the object from the earth, careful not to damage it. Lotus gently wiped the mud off the object's surface, __"This is... a book?"__Lotus took a small cloth out of her cloak and continued to delicately scrub the mud off the book as she continued walking. The book was very old, it's pages worn and faded from the weather and earth, Lotus looked at the book admiringly, thinking about how long the book must have been buried there before the rain had uncovered enough earth to find it, __"Wow, this thing must be older then Arkarium is!"__Lotus lightly laughed at the thought as she looked up realizing she had reached the top of the waterfall already. She gently placed the book into her cloak pocket and slowly made her way down to a narrow ledge and into a cave that was hidden by the waterfall. Finding let alone entering the cave would have been extremely dangerous to most, but as a ghost the waterfall and ledge didn't even phase Lotus, since she couldn't be hurt by such things any longer.

Lotus walked to a far corner of the cave, setting a candle on fire and sitting down near a large stone table, gently taking the book out of her cloak pocket. Lotus held the book while carefully inspecting the cover, the book title was written in ancient symbols, with a fine golden ink. Many different symbols and pictures covered the pages inside, written in golden or light blue inks. Lotus carefully brushed her hand over the page's contents, the text was very finely written, and the pictures beautifully drawn, but the text was unreadable to her. She didn't understand the ancient symbols that were used, they where something she had never seen before.

_"___Ok... now I KNOW this book is older then Arkarium..."__Lotus closed the book and set it on the stone table, __"I wonder where it came from... and who wrote it?"__Lotus got up from the table and walked to the entrance of the cave, leaning up against the cave's mouth. The waterfall was so tall, it overlooked most of the forest, you could even see the Elven kingdom from it. Lotus closed her eyes as a sweet breeze blew past her and into the vast, fading sunset. She began to sing softly as she felt the last of the sun's warmth disappearing over the horizon.

_"__**_**You are the dawn of a new day that's waking,**_**_

_**_**a masterpiece still in the making, the blue in an ocean of gray**_**__**_..."_**_

Lotus fell to her knees, crying softly as a final breeze swept past the cave with a cold chill announcing night had officially risen. She sat watching the first star of the evening sparkle brightly in the distance, _"___Please... Let her be safe and happy, where ever she ended up..."__


	2. Chp1 Page 2

_**[ Somewhere near Edelstein ]**_

Xenon, Roo-D, and Luminous scanned through the crowds at Free Market looking for Aran. _"Claudine said he made it here... where is he?" _Roo-D was perched on Xenon's head trying to see above the crowd while Xenon watched the people passing around him as they walked. _"I'm not sure Roo-D... I've lost sight of Luminous to, it's just too crowded here." _Xenon patiently paced through the crowds of annoyed and screaming customers to reach the entrance gate. Twice someone grabbed him aside and yelled at him for cutting in line, and once he lost Roo-D, who after almost 30 minutes of searching for, was found being placed on auction at a pet dealer's store. Xenon had to pay a hefty eighty-million mesos to retrieve his stolen friend before once again trying to make it back towards the entrance gate. _"I hope Luminous is having better luck then we are..."_ Xenon sighed, looking down at Roo-D, who he was now carrying in his arms.

Luminous was searching deeper into the market, looking through every line to find Aran. _"Why didn't they send Evan with us? He has Mir with him, he could just fly above the crowds."_ Luminous huffed, coming to the end of a line of stands before spotting one farther off into the distance that was on the side by itself, there was a young male with white hair standing at the counter paying for some items he bought. _"There he is, I'll yell at him big time for this!" _Luminous growled, tightening his grip on the staff he carried, and broke almost into a full-run, he flew past the remaining market stands, scattering the crowds around him. _**"ARAN!"**_ Luminous yelled at the boy as he approached ever faster, startling the boy so much that he almost fell over. The boy caught his balance and quickly turned to face Luminous, who was now slowing to a walking pace, face bright red with anger, The boy stood dumbfound, staring at Luminous with a mixture of curiosity and fear crossing his face, Luminous pounded his staff against the ground angrily before looking up to face the young man, he opened his mouth to yell at the boy again before suddenly going pale, dropping his staff on the ground beside him. The shop owner and the boy exchanged looks of concern before the owner went into the drawers of his stand to get the First-Aid Kit out, and the boy ran over to Luminous and gently squeezed his hand, _"Are you alright stranger, does it hurt anywhere?"_ Luminous looked up to see the boy still holding his hand, face filled with concern. Luminous let out a light laugh and took a step away from the boy,_ "I'm fine, sorry for worrying you, I mistook you for someone else I've been waiting on all day and let my temper get the better of me..." _

The boy's expression lite up seeing that Luminous was alright, and he bent down to pick up Luminous's staff, passing it back to him and gently patting Luminous's hand, _"I'm just glad your alright, you scared us going pale like that so suddenly." "My name's Leo, what's yours?"_ The boy asked looking up at Luminous with a smile, _"uh... Luminous_" He smiled back hesitantly at the young man for a moment before turning around again, _"Well... I need to be going, my friend won't find himself"_, but just as Luminous had started to walk away, Leo had run up and grabbed his sleeve. _"Do you want to look for him together? It'd take you all day alone with crowds like these."_ Luminous looked down in surprise, but he nodded and patted Leo on the head, _"Sure, this market place is pretty big, it'd be nice to have the help."_ Luminous smiled as he and the young man set off together to search for Aran. For almost two hours Leo and the Luminous searched through the lively and busy crowds of the Free Market looking for the warrior, they told each other stories about the past and the recent events that had happened to them as they looked, spending most of their long search laughing together.

"_I don't think he's here yet..."_ Luminous sighed as they walked back towards the entrance and up the hill, Xenon caught sight of Luminous and Leo freeing one arm to wave to them, Roo-D had jumped out of Xenon's non-free arm and ran at Luminous pouncing onto him and knocking him backward. Xenon ran down to help Luminous up and scold Roo-D, Leo was quicker to help Luminous up though, leaving Xenon the task of a full scolding to his tiny friend. _"That was bad Roo-D! You could have hurt him!"_, Luminous looked up and seen Xenon was waving a stern finger at Roo-D, but the tiny robot seemed really sorry about what he had done. _"Xenon, it's ok, he didn't mean any harm"_ Luminous was brushing himself off as he said it, Xenon gave him a primitive look before scooping up Roo-D in his arms again. _"I'm really sorry Xenon... I didn't mean to tackle him, I... I just..."_ Roo-D's ears drooped and he covered his face with his paws, but Xenon gently lifted his paws from his face and pet his head, _"It's ok Roo-D, Luminous said there was no harm done."_


	3. Chp1 Page 3

The four started the walk back to Edelstein, continuing their conversations about the past and laughing at one another's stories. Xenon gently nudged Luminous's side when Leo and Roo-D ran ahead of them to look at some of the shops, __"Lumi, what are we going to do when we get to the base?" __Xenon asked, giving Luminous a concerned look, Luminous just stared at Xenon as the two stood still in the middle of the bustling street, __"What do you... You mean they won't let him follow us?" __Luminous stared at Xenon in disbelief as his friend slowly shook his head. __"He's not a member of the __**Alliance **__and... not a member of the Resistance either" __Xenon said bluntly still shaking his head, __"They'd never let him in."__Luminous looked over towards Leo and Roo-D who were curiously peering into one of the shop windows, __"You're positive? I mean..." __Luminous looked towards the ground as if he couldn't find the words to continue, but Xenon gently squeezed his friends shoulder, causing Luminous to look up at him again, __"I know what you mean, I like him to, but its still the rules... especially with Orchid around, we need to put all the other members in our thoughts to" __Xenon said, patting Luminous's back before turning to walk again,__"Remember, these are dangerous times right now for all of us." __Luminous watched Xenon join Leo and Roo-D at the shop's window and peer in as well.

__"There has to be a way..."__Luminous watched his friends from a distance before noticing Checky and Brighton sitting on a bench located on the opposite side of the street, _"___I can ask them if there's anything that can be done about this, there has to be a way." __Luminous cautiously approached the two leaders of the Resistance, his head slightly lowered as he got closer to them, catching their attention. __"Luminous, did you find Aran while you were out there? We can't wait much longer so..." __Brighton asked watching Luminous slowly come closer to them, head still lowered. __"No sir, Aran wasn't at Free Market, we looked all over the place for him." __Luminous confirmed, looking up at them then hastily turning his head away again, __"How am I going to ask them this..." __Luminous gave an odd look that made the two leaders laugh as they watched him. __"You have something to ask us I bet?" __Checky asked, both still watching Luminous's reactions, __"O-oh! Um... Yea, I kinda did" __Luminous stuttered, his face turning red with embarrassment as he looked at both Checky and Brighton who were laughing at him again now.

__"Was it about your friend over there?" __Brighton asked looking thoughtfully at Leo, who was now playing with some of the children that usually stood around Checky when he was on duty. __"Oh, y-yes... could he um..." __Luminous rubbed his hair and looked down towards the ground, unable to finish his question, but Brighton knew what he wanted to ask already. __"He can't... but we can keep him busy up here." __Luminous looked up in shock at Brighton's words, __"But don't you need to be with us for the meeting?" __Brighton and Checky laughed lightly when Luminous asked them, __"No, its more for our members then us... we already know about it all." __Checky said getting up and getting ready to return to his post. __"I'll look after him for you, maybe send him to help the others out a bit"__Checky said waving behind him as he walked away. __"Lets get going then, Luminous that meeting is about to start, you should join them" __Brighton said also getting up and heading towards the entrance of the hideout, Luminous followed him quickly, only peering back once to see Checky giving Leo a job assignment.

Luminous smiled then disappeared from their sights, __"Oh, where did Luminous go?"__Leo asked finally noticing his friend was gone, Checky simply shook his head __"He was given a job to do as well, you know how important it is for him to be funded with all the hero's have to do." __Leo looked at Checky in surprise before laughing and looking at his job sheet. __"I guess so! Now... I need to go talk to Surl about the water thieves?" __Leo asked looking up to Checky who was passing out balloons to the children surrounding him, __"Yes, Surl may ask you to do more for him but... talk to the Headmaster Ferdi afterwards, he also wishes to speak with you."__ Checky pointed towards the Headmaster, who kindly waved back at Checky and Leo in return, __"Alright! Maybe he'll be done by the time I get finished!"__Leo smiled and with confidence, ran off to find the one called Surl. The bell for school rang and the children ran back to their classroom, Elex waved to Checky before closing the door behind him, Checky looked back towards the shadows of the buildings nearby, Xenon slipped out from the dark alley way _"You had something you wanted me to do Checky?" _he asked approaching the Mechanic who was still watching Leo run around in the distance,__"Your friend's not that bad... I wanna put him through the loop, but maybe he can join the Resistance, the more the marrier anyways right?" ___Checky laughed lightly before looking Xenon in the eyes and lowering his tone to a whisper, ___"Xenon... The Black Wings have been restless lately... I'm getting worried" ___Checky walked back over to the bench he and Brighton were at earlier, Xenon followed him silently. ___"I want you to help me keep an eye out up here for now, I've got a bad feeling..." ___Xenon nodded and sat silently next to Checky, ___"I shall do my best..." ___Xenon thought as he watched all the people passing up and down the street in front of them._


	4. Chp1 Page 4

Luminous followed Brighton through the sewer passage until they had almost reached the entrance of the Secret base, as the two were about to enter, there was a sudden flash of light followed by a large explosion that shook the entire city, Brighton and Luminous looked back towards the top of the passage, hearing screams of fear and panicked movements just above. __"We'd better get in there and find out what happened!" __Brighton called over his shoulder as he grabbed his staff and ran forward into base's front room, Luminous stood shocked at what had just happened, a million things running through his mind as he slowly found his strength to follow the battle mage into the base.

Dark, thick smoke was slowly filling the room, rising up from the passage that led into the training ground and clinic rooms located just below the main room. __"What happened here, is everyone alright?!" __Brighton yelled out, not being able to make out anything in front of him through the heavy smoke. __"We're fine"__called a familiar voice, as a dark figure shot out from the smoke and into the air before them, Demon Slayer was holding Mastema in his arms, gently caressing the small cat demon as she clung tightly to his cloths, wheezing due to all the smoke. __"Is she ok Demon?"__Luminous asked as the demon landed next to them, Demon Slayer looked down in his arms, concern filling his face as he watched his dear friend struggling to breath, __"I need to get her outside, I'm sorry Luminous, Brighton... Excuse me."__The demon hastily ran past them and out of the Resistance base leaving the two mages staring after him. __"He really loves her..."__Luminous sighed smiling, then he turned around and clutched his staff and preparing a spell to cast, but Brighton caught the slight sadness in his voice as he said it, __"We all have our time Luminous, don't worry, you'll find someone someday... What about that girl you live with now?"__

Luminous lost his balance and misfired the spell he was using, hitting one of the TVs used to view the cameras the Resistance set up, causing even more smoke to fill the room, __"I love Lania, but not that way!" __Luminous spun around after regaining his balance, his dark aura shaking and flickering violently as he glared at Brighton. __"I... think I should go see if anyone else is hurt, I'll suggest you the same."__Brighton laughed uneasily, stepping back before jumping to the bottom floor and disappearing into the smoke cloud. Luminous stood in place staring at where Brighton had vanished, __"Who would ever think that... Argh! She's so much younger then me!"__Luminous jumped down and chased after Brighton, using his staff to clear the thick smoke as he ran through it, he came up behind Brighton in the lower part of the Resistance, the two ran towards the training grounds, doing everything they could to clear as much smoke as possible along the way. __"That smoke is coming from..."__Brighton thought, glancing back towards the clinic rooms __"Don't tell me..."__he tightened his grip on the weapon he was using and ran ahead of Luminous __"Wait, Brighton!"__Luminous yelled after him, but the battle mage was gone.


	5. Chp1 Page 5

Brighton was running at full speed now, no longer caring about the thick smoke still piling into the hallway, nor the desperate and panicked screams of the people in the town above, or the light mage behind him.Glancing over his shoulder, Brighton pressed on even harder, hardly aware his surroundings, _"If there's that much smoke coming from the clinic... it can only mean..."_ Brighton raced through the smoke towards the training grounds, finally whipped up his staff and with a violent burst of magical energy, the thick smoke around him cleared until the end of the hall _"She can't be awake yet... We're not ready!" _panic was almost over taking him by the moment he reached the elevator that would take him to the training grounds below. Brighton quickly went to it and pulled the lever before the smoke could fill in around it again, _"Luminous will be fine up here, I have to hurry though."_ The moments that passed as the elevator creaked and started to make its way down to the Training Ground B seemed like years to Brighton, anxious to find out what had happened, if his friends and students were safe or not, if Orchid had woken up and attacked them. Brighton closed his eyes tightly thinking about all the possibilities, as the elevator creaked loudly and shuttered to a halt on Training Room B. He only dared to open his eyes after it had stopped moving completely, greeted with an angry girl wielding a crossbow in his face and an even angrier black jaguar behind her, Brighton stood frozen for a moment, the only noise filling the air was a low threatening growl coming from the large feline, made only louder by the suspended breath of all the room's inhabitants.

The girl let out a sigh and lowered her crossbow weapon, the jaguar in tern straightening up, fixing it's posture and silencing itself, closely viewing Brighton in detail. _"Brighton, I thought you were..."_ Belle stuttered in an annoyed sort of tone as her jaguar, Black Jack, brushed past her and approached Brighton lightly. _"Did you see anything up there?"_ growled the large cat, staring right into Brighton's eyes as he asked, Brighton shook his head and looked past the wild hunter towards Claudine, _"What happened? There's smoke filling every room upstairs and there was an explosion in town"_ Brighton finished, shaking slightly, Claudine looked up as if she were trying to see through the ceiling of the training room and into the town far above. She slowly looked back towards Brighton and Belle before speaking, seeming almost hesitant to announce her speech, causing everyone to hold their breath while waiting for her response. _"I think..."_ Claudine began, she looked around and opened her mouth, but then the elevator suddenly creaked again and lowered into the room once more, carrying Luminous, Checky and Xenon, all looking rather pale and stiff muscled. Some of the crowd behind Claudine started to whisper in frightened tones, others could only gasp in shock. _"What happened to you three!?"_ Claudine flung herself towards the three arrivals, tightly hugging them all and shaking, Checky looked down at Claudine then looked towards the crowd, which was staring quietly at them, _"The Black Wings have launched an attack against the town, I suppose they're looking for us"_ gasps filled the room as panic started to rise, some of the weaker recruits started to cry, others huddled together trying to sooth one another while the more experienced members seemed ready and willing to fight whatever lied above them. Checky looked around once again before shaking his head and looking back towards Claudine, _"What are we going to do Claudine... we can't let them discover our hideout"_, _"We can't let the wreck the town either though!"_ Claudine snapped, turning around quickly towards the crowd and slammed the head of her cane on the floor, causing everyone to go completely silent and stare at her quietly.

_"Everyone listen up!"_ Claudine raised her voice so everyone could hear her, _"I need the more experienced members up top immediately, everyone else I need to stay in the base, protect it if the Black wings get in, let none of them escape!"_ a roar surged from the crowd as members started to divide up amongst themselves, gathering in groups based on experience and class when suddenly, the elevator creaked as it lowered yet again, this time it was the Head Master and Elex. Everyone fell silent as the Head Master raised his hand and looked around, _"I need everyone to stay here in the base, they're after Orchid, we cannot let them take her back, we have to protect her."_ Another gasp swept across the room as angry voices started to rise from the crowd, _"__**We can't protect her!**__"_, _"__**She's our enemy!**__"_ the Head Master looked around at the angry crowd with a look of loss coming across his face, Elex cleared his throat loudly before letting his voice boom across the room. _"You __**WILL**__ stay here and protect her, just as the Head Master said to!"_ Elex looked across the crowd who had fallen silent quickly, as if looking for any challengers towards his opinion. A hand rose from the middle of the room, a newer member of the wild hunter branch stood shaking in place, but his hand raised with determination, the leaders all looked towards the young member quietly as the head master nodded towards him, giving him permission to speak. _"Why are we going to protect our enemy... she's caused all of us a lot of pain hasn't she?"_ the whole room fell silent at the young recruit's words, everyone stood looking towards the ground not daring to answer, as if it where forbidden to do so.

Xenon kindly walked forward and looked at the young boy, nodding and then raising his own hand causing everyone to look at him in surprise. _"Because, Gelimer want's her back, he's a dangerous man and we can't allow him to further his power sources!"_ Xenon's words echoed around the silent room, sending a shudder through the crowd, but a nod of agreement followed closely behind. The Head Master had a twinkle in his eye as Xenon passed him returning to where he was at originally. Claudine shuffled uncomfortable at these new orders, but nodded and walked forward again. _"You heard the Head Master... S-stay here and protect Orchid at all costs."_


	6. Chp1 Page 6

Luminous and Xenon waited until the meeting was ended before going back outside of the base, both had agreed that while the Resistance couldn't fight the Black Wings who were attacking the town, they could. _"Do you really think we can handle them all alone Lumi?" _Xenon asked nervously as they approached the entrance of the sewer passage. _"I think..."_ but Luminous was cut off by another sudden flash of light and then another explosion, Xenon and Luminous looked warily at one another before hurrying towards the entrance. A large shadow flew over the top of the sewage pipe then another loud explosion happened only feet ahead of where the shadow has been, a small chorus of screams and squeals erupted as a herd of bunnies in Black Wing clothing raced by the tunnel and out of town, Xenon and Luminous peered curiously up to be greeted with surprise, by a large black dragon with shimmering golden horns and markings covering it's body. _"Mir!"_ Both cried out at once as the large dragon half looked back and grinned at them before firing another explosion at oncoming enemies. Luminous and Xenon scrambled out of the tunnel and joined the great dragon in battle, Luminous looked further into the distance ahead of them to see Aran dealing heavy blows to the enemies ahead of them, trying to prevent them from moving forward. _"Maha is glowing really brightly today..."_ Xenon said from behind Luminous, having also taken notice of Aran and his polearm, which was glowing in a brilliant golden light, _"Well, I suppose he's all fired up again, Aran has almost all of his power back now, and his memories are all back to."_ Luminous smiled as he struck a blast of powerful dark magic towards three oncoming commander bunnies.

Xenon also smiled as he went about defeating all the enemies on his side, but stopped suddenly again looking back at Mir with a look of unspoken concern, Luminous caught this and also looked at Mir. _"Uh... Mir?"_ Luminous spoke softly as not to alarm the great dragon, as he craned his neck back towards his two companions with an innocent look of curiosity upon his face. Luminous was about to ask when Xenon beat him to it, _"Where's Evan at?"_ Xenon asked, also looking curious as the dragon turned around again to face more oncoming enemies. _"He's in the lower part of town assisting Mercedes with her monsters"_ the great onyx dragon seemed to beam at the idea of his master fighting alone without him, Xenon laughed heartily at Mir's expression before he lowered his weapon and turned around completely towards Luminous and Mir. _"I think that about does it up here, I don't see anymore coming this way"_, Luminous also lowered his staff and grinned, wiping the sweat from his brow, _"I don't either."_ Luminous looked inquiringly at Mir, who returned his gaze quickly and nodded, _"We got here just before the Black Wings struck Edelstein, Aran and Mercedes arrived shortly after us... about the time the first bomb the Black Wings threw blew up"_ Mir shook his great head in distaste, _"What do they want now I wonder?"_

_"We think they're after Orchid"_ Luminous said grimly, his dark aura flaring wildly and he clenched his fists,_ "I don't know why they can't just leave her alone now, she's been through enough..."_ Luminous gave a spiteful look towards the last Black Wings spy that Aran seemed to be boredly toying with. _"You feel bad for her?"_ Mir inquired looking somewhat offended and surprised, Luminous just gave the dragon a sour look and shook his head. _"I know it wasn't really our fault... but Phantom killed her brother, you'd think she was doing all of this for him and not the Black Mage..."_ Luminous covered his face with his hands and took a deep breath, Xenon gave a look of sympathy to both Mir and Luminous before looking back towards Aran. _"I understand why you feel that way Lumi..."_ Xenon thought, taking one last glance at Luminous, he quietly walked over towards Aran and offered a hand to pull him up from where he was sitting at. _"But on top of that, Gelimer... Gelimer is a dangerous man, he used the one thing Orchid would have never raised hand against to break her..."_ Luminous's thoughts wandered as he looked distantly towards the mountains surrounding the town, _"What's to say she wasn't a bad person after all? What defines us anyway, our actions or our reason?"_ Luminous blankly stood staring at his surroundings, he hadn't realized that Mercedes and Evan had rejoined them, he hadn't realized they had started walking either, he was too lost in thought to realize what was going on around him.


	7. Chp1 Page 7

Later that evening, Luminous and the others had gone back into the base and explained what happened outside to the Resistance leaders. They had a small dinner party to celebrate the hero's success in driving the Black Wings out of their town, but Luminous wasn't that interested in celebrating, he knew the Black Wings wouldn't be gone for long and would probably strike again as soon as they left. On top of that though, he couldn't stop himself from thinking about what was said earlier, _"Why __**IS**__ Orchid building the Black Wings... Surely, the Black Mage isn't that important to her, even Hilla and Arkarium haven't done anything really effective so far to bring him back... Just Orchid and..."_ Luminous stared up at the ceiling of his room in silence, his thoughts just kept coiling around inside his mind, like an enormous snake waiting to strike at him. He laid in bed for a long time before finally giving up on any idea of sleeping, _"I'll never be able to sleep like this, I need some fresh air"_ he sighed as he rolled over and crawled out of bed. The air was a bitter sweet cool as he came outside of the sewer passage and onto the empty street, a gentle breeze blew across his face as he looked up to see a bright, glittering night sky above him. He walked in silence, farther and farther from the Resistance's base, away from the town, past the sleeping monsters and into a deserted area away from the main roads of Edelstein.

Finally, he walked to the nearest boulder to him and sat down, closing his eyes and letting another gentle breeze blow through his hair. Luminous sat for what felt like an eternity, blank minded and peaceful feeling, the night was quiet, filled only with the soft sounds of monsters snoring in the distance. Luminous opened his eyes and looked around him, freezing at the sight of a strange, silvery mist like creature that stood at a distance watching him quietly. Luminous looked at the creature for a moment wondering what it was exactly he was looking at; the creature was rather large, perhaps slightly larger than Ryko, Aran's wolf mount, it had even looked like a wolf except it had two long, pointed ears and three fluffy tails, suggesting it was a very large fox instead. Luminous stared at the strange creature in awe, it's body was see-through almost like a ghost, though it's body seemed to be solid none the less. The creature stood completely still, it's purple-ish eye's staring at Luminous in light of equal interest, then it slowly turned it's body and started to walk away, stopping again a short distance later to look back at Luminous with a look in it's eyes that seemed to say _"Follow me"_, Luminous carefully got up and followed after the strange creature, heeding it's call they walked for almost a mile more before it stopped in front of a large boulder that laid against the mountain side. Looking back eagerly at Luminous, the creature turned and walked through the boulder, leaving Luminous standing dumbfounded. Compelled for some reason he wasn't aware of, Luminous unconsciously walked up to the boulder and pressed a hand against it, _"My hand went through!"_ Luminous stood in front of the boulder, shocked that he had gone through a solid object. The creature emerged again from the other side of the boulder and watched him closely, then, with what seemed like a sigh, it re-demonstrated to walk through the boulder, Luminous stared at the creature as it disappeared again, _"What... is it doing... what is this thing?" _Luminous shook his head and followed the creature's example to walk through the boulder. He emerged on the other side, greeted by a large rock filled, stadium like valley with a fresh spring located at either end of it, _"What is this place...?"_ Luminous casually walked through the valley, taking in every corner of it with astonishment.

He looked behind him to see the creature was following him, _"Hey... um.."_ Luminous watched the creature tilt its head as he spoke, sure that the creature couldn't understand him, he turned around again, hanging his head wondering how to communicate with the creature, but he suddenly jumped as something pushed against his back, looking over his shoulder, he seen the being had bumped its head against his back and was looking at his face, an expression of expectancy for him to finish what he was saying upon it's face. Luminous laughed and turned around again, this time lowering himself to eye level with the creature and asking again, _"I know friends who need a better place to train at, this valley is large enough to provide us with that space we need... may we please use it?"_ Luminous watched the creature curiously, wondering if he should explain further about why they needed it, when the creature backed away from him and dropped something in front of it. Luminous looked down and jumped, the item the creature had dropped was a Black Wings badge, he looked up at it and it nodded, _"S-so you already...?"_ The creature nodded again and turned around, Luminous watched it walk away and vanish behind the boulder, he stood there quietly for a while before bending down and picking up the badge and deciding to head back to the base. _"So it already knows about the Black Wings... This must have been fate then"_ he thought as he walked silently, turning the badge around in his hand as he walked, _"but... something is familiar about this badge in particular."_

Luminous got back to the base and sleepily crawled into bed again, closing his eyes and falling asleep quickly, he looked at the badge one last time before dozing off into a deep, peaceful sleep. The door to Luminous's room creaked slowly as Mastema gently pushed it open with her paws, opening it just enough for her to creep into the room without waking Luminous up. She looked up at the clock next to his bed and then to him, shaking her head and softly mumbling _"boys..."_ she jumped onto the bed, crawled up onto his stomach and poked at him, causing Luminous to wake up, blurrily look around and jump once he spotted Mastema peering into his face. He regained his posture and sat up before looking down at her _"What's up Mastema...why'd you wake me up so early?"_ he yawned sleepily looking over at the clock on the night stand next to him, Mastema simply made a small grunting noise and pawed at his stomach with an annoyed expression before answering him, _"Early?... Well..."_ she straightened herself out and looked him in the eyes, _"Claudine is holding the meeting she was going to have yesterday before the Black Wings attacked us, you'll miss it if you don't hurry."_ Mastema jumped off Luminous's bed and started for the door when she turned her head for a brief moment, _"Please hurry, they can't hold off for much longer." _She finished with a worried expression and walked back out of the room leaving Luminous staring blankly at the door she had just exited, Luminous shook his head and sluggishly got up and dressed for the day.

Luminous managed to make it down to the meeting before it started, Claudine was rehearsing her speech to Checky when they seen Luminous go by, they both waved at him in which he returned with a smile then he went to meet up with Aran and Xenon who were waiting for him. _"I think I found a place for the Resistance to train at last night"_ Luminous whispered to them, Aran and Xenon looked at each other before giving him a confused look, Luminous went into an explanation about everything that had happened, Aran nodded while Xenon just listened quietly. _"I think it should be ok"_ Aran said upon Luminous's conclusion, _"It'll be ok... but what about the creature that led me there, wouldn't we be destroying it's home?"_ Luminous gave a downcast look as he said it, Xenon patted his back and looked at Aran for support, Aran had closed his eyes, apparently deep in thought before he spoke again, _"That wouldn't bother it..."_ Aran said in a confirmed way that made both Xenon and Luminous look up at him. _"From how you described it, it sounds like some kind of earth spirit... So it could easily fix the landscape if it wanted to afterwards"_ Aran nodded again as he finished and looked up at Claudine who was now clearing her throat and facing the now full room. The meeting lasted almost an hour, Claudine started it off with introduction to and for the newest members, then moved on to recent events, going over what had happened both inside and outside the base and explaining that the Black Wings were being more active then usual and to stay on high alert for anything suspicious. Luminous took his opportunity after the meeting to talk to Claudine and Checky about what he had found the previous night, Checky left with Luminous, Xenon and Atan to go check it out later that evening and he confirmed it was safe to go there. Claudine was happy to hear about it from Checky when they got back to base, _"This is a wonderful discovery!"_ she exclaimed, _"Our members have needed this kind of training for a long time now... I'm glad we can finally offer it to them, and it's all thanks to you Luminous."_ Claudine and the other leaders of the Resistance spent the next week working hard to set the training area up for usage, Luminous took this time to return home and hang out with Lania, helping her around the house and with grocery shopping.


End file.
